Very Exclusive Gadgets & Gizmos

The Fingerist is a cute looking adapter for the iPhone which converts the handset into a musical instrument controller. Basically you get to look all rock and roll as you strum your guitar app, and because it’s also got an internal speaker you get to hear the sound with more unforgiving clarity than using the standard phone speaker.

The device can also be used as a standard audio speaker. Priced at $150.00, but there appears to be some production delays with the project at the moment.

The Piano that hides inside a table. Called Georg Bohle Piano Table, designed by Georg Bohle. Pretty! Its price is $6,000

Apparently this Eleven Rack guitar processor from Digidesign is the bees knees. If they could play rockin’ electric guitar of course. Which they can’t. Anyhoo…the thing comes with emulations of all the major guitar amps, as well as ‘legendary’ effects emulators, USB audio interface and a brand name that will guarantee you end up in the Spinal Tap Hall of Fame. If there was one. Which there isn’t. $899.97.

You don’t need to wait for birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas to give gifts to a loved one, and kids of all ages definitely love presents without any occassion! The Discovery Drumset might be your next purchase in line, as it will help hone your little one’s hand-eye co-ordination since one needs to follow the lights to play a song, but the more musically inclined will be able to create their own tunes with the ability to choose from eight drum rhythms. Powered by a quartet of AA batteries, it is currently on sale for $19.99.

An infinite number of Bliptronics can be attached together using the link ports and included cables. When one Bliptronic reaches the end of it’s pattern, the next Bliptronic is instantly triggered to start playing. This allows you to make longer songs where each person controls a section of the song. You can even set the tempo and instrument differently on each Bliptronic in the chain to achieve unconventional musical results.

OK we admit it. There are times – and this is one – when we feature things just because they’re glittery. And shaped like a cassette tape. The Urban DJ Mixer probably won’t change your life, it’s definitely not marriage proposal material and your chances of scoring a major recording deal with Universal because of it are…well…slim. But it’s gold coloured. And shaped like a cassette tape. Did we say that already? £19.99/$32.00.

For the music lovers who are keen to blend lyrical themes all on their own, the Eigenharp has debuted for the first time in the U.S. The innovative and revolutionary new instruments allows the musician to play and improvise, change scales and keys, transpose, alter tempo, program beats, create arrangements, switch and layer multiple sounds - all this while performing live on stage. The Eigenharp’s instruments are versatile and fun that anyone can learn to play. Priced at $6500, it can be ordered now for pre-Christmas delivery.

This Roll Up Drum Kit gives you portable rhythm wherever you go. It’s powered via USB and comes with Windows (XP/Vista) software to power the samples. There are 70 different sounds and the software gives you tempos from 40 to 280 bpm. It comes with 6 programmable pads and a pair of plastic drum sticks. US$59.95 from SkyMall.

The Olive 4HD is a Hi Fi media server for the CD-collecting generation and music connoisseur. The 4HD plugs straight into a stereo amplifier for playback but also rips CDs and 24bit CDs to its 2TB hard drive via the state-of-the-art DAC and CD drive. It can store 6,000 CDs or 20,000 24bit tracks which should keep the party going for a while.

It’s not just highbrow music though, it’ll connect to your 802.11b/g/n or Gigabit network, talk to your Mac or PC and stream music from anything on the network. It even has album art. All this fun will cost you US$1,999 but hey, it looks great!

Sure, the iPod Shuffle was made for those who just want to play MP3s, and don’t want to have to deal with the price of more elegant models like the Touch. However, the Shuffles are pretty expensive in and of themselves compared to MP3 Players like the Creative Zen Stone and the Sansa Clip Plus.

I had a chance to try out the Sansa Clip Plus, and I have to admit, it was much easier to use than an iPod Shuffle. For starters, I didn’t have to deal with iTunes, which really eats up a lot of processing on my computer.